Wounded Wildcats

Bob Clark

Tuesday

Mar 15, 2011 at 12:01 AM

It could have been a woe-is-Weber State season for the Wildcats.

The leading scorer was lost to an injury after nine games. The expected point guard in his stead has a shoulder that keeps popping out of place. The trainer needs an extra shipment of tape for all of the ailing ankles.

And, yet, there is Weber State, at 18-13 overall, coming to Matthew Knight Arena for a Wednesday night game against Oregon in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational.

“We’ve had a lot of adversity, as much as I’ve had in 22 years of coaching,” Weber State coach Randy Rahe said. “But our guys kept believing, they kept fighting and we’ve found a way to have some success.”

The Wildcats shoot three-pointers with accuracy, ranking fourth in the nation with a percentage of 41.2. They have good balance, with four starters averaging in double figures for points. And they’ve been generally solid defensively, holding opponents to an overall shooting percentage of 42.2 while allowing 67 points on average.

“We’re not the prettiest group out there to watch and we’ve got some limitations, but we’ve found a way to do some good things,” Rahe said.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, considering Rahe has compiled a 99-63 record in his five seasons at the Ogden, Utah, school. The Wildcats have finished first in the Big Sky regular season three times in his tenure and third twice, including this season, when they began 3-4 and finished 11-5.

This will be Weber State’s fourth postseason appearance in Rahe’s five seasons, and, considering the physical setbacks the Wildcats endured, reaching this CBI might be almost as much of an accomplishment as his first season when his makeover of the Wildcats included eight junior college transfers and two freshmen in one spring recruiting class, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament less than 12 months later.

The Wildcats started this season considered one of the favorites in the Big Sky, led by returning conference player of the year Damian Lillard. He was averaging 22 points after eight games, and then suffered a broken bone in his foot that put him out for the season.

“That was a hard one to deal with,” Rahe said. “He was a special player and a special kid.

“We had a real tough adjustment to make and we had to move some guys around. We needed some time to figure it all out.”

Except, there wasn’t the luxury of time for revamping the team. The Wildcats had to play BYU in less than a week, but played the Cougars to the end, dropping a 72-66 decision.

“We came out and gave a great effort,” Weber State junior Kyle Bullinger said. “After that, we kind of knew we had the talent on the team to make a run.”

The Big Sky schedule put the Wildcats on the road for five of their first seven conference games, and a 19-point loss to eventual league champion Northern Colorado left Weber State at 9-9 overall in mid-January.

From there, the Wildcats went on an eight-game winning streak, and were in contention for the Big Sky title into the final weekend.

“The coaches restructured the offense and we bought into how we needed to play,” Bullinger said, terming the team’s style “gritty.”

“We became much better defensively,” he added. “Our mindset was we had to get better every day, and I think we did.”

Said Rahe: “It really was a team effort. It was everybody figuring out how to be a little more productive on each end of the floor.”

Still, Bullinger has had to deal with both of his ankles hurting. Senior guard Lindsey Hughey is “playing at 75 percent” in Rahe’s estimation due to an injured ankle. Brian Mahoney, a 6-foot-8 junior, has dealt with a strained calf muscle most of the season.

And then there’s Scott Bamforth, a 6-2 sophomore who has made half of his three-point attempts and was named Big Sky newcomer of the year after transferring from Western Nebraska Junior College.

Bamforth’s right shoulder was separated in the opening game, “and it’s only gotten worse and deteriorated on him,” Rahe said. “I think he’s playing at about 50 percent, but he’s such a tough kid.”

Uh, yeah. Bamforth has gone from having the shoulder taped to wearing a brace, but Rahe said while “it really limits his mobility, it still doesn’t keep it from popping out” of the joint.

“I’ve seen it enough now that I’m used to it, but you’ll see when it pops out, he grabs it with his other hand and puts it back in and away he goes.”

As did Weber State, which thought it had been promised a home game in the CBI when it accepted an offer on Friday to play in the event, only to find out Sunday the Wildcats were being sent to Eugene.

“These tournament are kind of that way,” Rahe said. “They told us when we signed the contract they wanted us to guarantee a home game, and we went so far as to market it to our fans.

“We also understand that these things change.”

If any team understands that, it’s the Wildcats.

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